Former Agent Josh Luchs Reveals Ugly Side of Paying College Football Players

SI has a wonderful story front page on their Web site entitled “Confessions of an agent.” The investigative piece, which is definitely worth your time, will also be featured in the October 18th issue of the magazine. In the article, Josh Luchs talks about how he got into the business of being a sports agent, which college football players he recruited, how he did it, and what made him get out of the business.

If you want to do the hit list of players, it’s quite extensive. Being based on the West Coast and from LA, UCLA players were one of Luchs’ biggest targets to recruit and some of the players he confirmed paying.

One of Luchs’ biggest points goes against Nick Saban’s “pimp” comment, as he contends many players have their hands out asking for money. Luchs justified paying players when he was younger because he was trying to get clients and felt he was helping out the players and/or their families. As he got older, he got tired of trying to be close with college kids and partying with athletes, and decided he wanted to do things without paying players.

Luchs began working for agent Gary Wichard, who has been targeted in the North Carolina investigation, but the two had a falling out and Luchs lost a lawsuit against Wichard. After being suspended by the NFLPA for a year because he withheld a player agent check from Wichard to use in the court case, he decided to get out of the business.

Reading through Luchs’ story, he describes himself and his situation as a kid who was young and looking to do anything to be close to cool athletes. If that meant giving them money, he did it. He was a total mooch and hanger-on, looking to be cool and make some money off these players. As he got older, he matured and realized that’s not the way he wanted to conduct his business.

The whole story is not that much of a shock; most people realize these kids are getting paid, and if it’s not by agents (or runners), then it’s by boosters, or both. That’s the sad truth, and one just has to hope there are some players and agents out there who don’t partake in the process because they know it’s wrong and against the rules.